"It
was both a riot
and surprisingly
had something poignant to say about race
relations."

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Michael Schultz ("Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club
Band"/"Greased
Lightning"/"Cooley High") directs this very enjoyable
sharp-edged
ethnic
comedy, a slice of life film about the 1970s, that's
about a
full-working
day spent in a Los Angeles car wash. It was both a
riot and
surprisingly
had something poignant to say about race relations. It
has soul,
energetic
disco music, plenty of bounce, and terrific sight gags
that mainly deal
with class differences between the harried but almost
sympathetic white
boss (Sully Boyar), his jerky Mao spewing geeky
college student son
(Richard
Brestoff) hopelessly trying to befriend the workers
with his hipness,
and
the zany group of mostly African-American car wash
workers at the
Dee-Luxe
garage (shot at the Figueroa Car Wash).

The plotless film is about getting through the day
for the
roughly
24 characters featured, from workers to customers to
family to a young
hotshot roller-skater. It opens early in the morning
with the smooth
talking
radio DJ blasting out continuous soul music from
station KGYS. To start
the day, the close-knit group of car washers change
into their orange
jump
suit uniforms in the locker and playfully sound each
other out when not
giving each other high fives or twirling around in
some frantic dance
and
song routine. George Carlin has a cameo as a taxi
driver that never
worked
out that funny, as he searches for a fare-beater;
Irwin Corey's cameo
fares
slightly better, as he's mistaken by one of the car
wash workers
(Franklyn
Ajaye) for the mad bomber in the newspapers when he
exits the toilet
with
a pop bottle covered by foil—which turns out to be
only a urine sample
for his hospital visit; while Richard Pryor steals the
film playing a
flashy
but phony money-grubbing and fast-talking white suit
garbed preacher,
the
founder-head of the Church of Divine Economic
Spirituality, arriving at
the car wash with his chauffeur, gold stretch limo and
his
entourage—The
Pointer Sisters.

Other characters of interest include the serious
ex-con
(Ivan Dixon)
trying to make a real job out of it, Bill Duke as the
troubled militant
black activist, Antonio Fargas as the sassy
cross-dresser homosexual,
Lauren
Jones as the forlorn hooker hanging around to drum up
business and
always
changing wigs, and Melanie May as the distracted
cashier and sometime
lover
of the boss who is hoping to go out on a real date
with Prince Charming
when he comes through the garage doors.

It's shrewdly written by Joel Schumacher, and
despite being
a period
piece has not really dated except for the obvious
change in styles and
attitudes. Though not all the comedy bits work—some
seem forced; but
most
of the characters are likable and funny, and enough of
its gritty humor
sticks to your ribs and tickles your funny bones.